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President Truman can legally take this action at once. He does not need to wait for Congress to reconvene. He can act in time to keep Manchuria out of the hands of the Soviet Union. If he does not, one of the first acts of Congress when it reconvenes should be an investigation of our policies with regard to China. Such an investigation might at least fix responsibilities and reveal the names of the men in our Government and foreign service who are incompetent to preserve the vital interests of the people of the U.S. . . .
The High Cost of Living
China today is caught in the sort of vicious circle that has become familiar to Europeans since World War I. She has been at war since 1937. The sources of such wealth as she had were in Japanese hands. Therefore she could not finance her war against the invader by sales of bonds, and she could cover only a small portion of the cost of the war by taxation. In consequence, she covered her war costs by the only method open to her—the issuance of paper currency. . . .
This means that China's war was in reality financed at the cost of the middle class, and by reduction of the standard of living of such fixed income groups as schoolteachers, college professors, Government employees, and all who live on the income from securities bearing a fixed rate of interest. . . . The cost of living today expressed in Chinese dollars is approximately 30,000 times what it was in 1936, before Japan attacked China. . . .
In an effort to keep down expenditures for war purposes, the Government has kept down the pay of its soldiers and officers. A private has been receiving in pay the Chinese equivalent of $1.50 a month. A major general receives the equivalent of $17 U.S. a month. . . . For purposes of raising morale, pay in the Army should be quadrupled. But there are more than 4,000,000 officers and men on the rolls of the Army, and a quadrupling of pay would add such a sum to Government expenditures, which could be covered only by printing more paper money, that the steady rise in the cost of living would accelerated.
Why Graft Exists The salaries of all Government employees from Cabinet members to tax collectors are held down to fantastically low levels. The underpayment of Government employees in China has passed the limits of human endurance. . . . Soldiers who are grossly underpaid, and hear from their families stories of increasing poverty, are deeply affected. Officers who cannot possibly support their wives and children on their salaries, if they are men of strong character and patriotism, sell all they possess to keep their families alive, but, when they no longer have any possessions, must either see their children starve, or use their power to graft, or commit suicide. There have been many who have preferred suicide to dishonor, but many have turned to graft. . . .
In the Army, graft takes many forms. The simplest is the padding of pay and ration rolls. The Chinese customs service, which before 1937 was one of the most efficient and honest in the world, is now riddled with graft. . . . Tax collectors of all sorts graft. . . . The Chinese judges have for the most part endured their sufferings and kept their honor clean. But there are grafting judges also. . . .